The state government may have already finalised the fee structure for under-graduate medical courses 2016-17, but with the Supreme Court making the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) mandatory, the question is, whether that fee structure will change.
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Turning down an appeal by state governments and medical colleges, the court had said prima facie it did not find any infirmity in the NEET regulation and that the order did not affect the rights of the state governments or private institutions.
The bench, comprising Justices Anil R Dave, Shiva Kirti Singh and Adarsh K Goel, ruled that all medical aspirants will be able to appear for NEET phase II exam, which is scheduled to be held on 24 July. “While the court has not given the state CET a green signal, it has agreed to allow students to appear for NEET-II”. The court on Tuesday said that Centre’s petition on conducting NEET in seven vernacular languages will be considered. In the interim order, the court reiterated its earlier view on private colleges holding their separate entrance tests saying “it is clarified that no examination shall be permitted to be held for admission to MBBS or BDS studies by any private college or association or any private/deemed university”.
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Addressing the submission in respect of reservation of any category or that of rights of minority institutions, the bench, in its order, said: “Special provisions for reservation of any category are not subject matter of the NEET nor rights of minority are in any manner affected by NEET. We thus do not find any merit in the applications seeking modification of (the) order dated 28th April, 2016”, the bench said. “Also, only NEET would facilitate students to get admission to MBBS/BDS courses”, it said. “We may also add here that to ensure total credibility of the examination to be held by the CBSE, the Oversight Committee (headed by Justice Lodha) shall also oversee the Neet-II examination”. The Bench, which hinted that it may consider allowing states conducting their own tests to continue with the admission process for current academic year alone, deferred the decision on this aspect till May 9 when Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar would apprise it about the stand of the Centre. But that would be subject to seeking an option from the candidates concerned to “give up their candidature for NEET-1”. Joint result will be announced on August 17.
